Radiation Safety Awareness among Healthcare Professionals Working in Radiation-Associated Hospital Radiology Departments in Türkiye

Background: Ionizing radiation for medical diagnosis and therapy can have negative health effects on service providers. In this study, we investigated the radiation safety awareness of healthcare professionals who work mainly with ionizing radiation.Materials and Methods: Workers in the diagnostic radiology, clinical oncology, and nuclear medicine departments of 11 hospitals in two cities in Türkiye (n=203) responded to a questionnaire that was specially designed to measure their knowledge and awareness about aspects of ionizing radiation and protection measures.Results and Discussion: Although the respondents’ primary role was directly related to ionizing radiation, results indicated that some had a knowledge gap about radiation safety and that the gap increased with the increase in age of the respondents. A Kuder–Richardson Formula 20 test for the dichotomized variables revealed an internal consistency of 0.83, indicating the validity of the results.Conclusion: Lack of ionizing radiation safety awareness among many healthcare workers who deal with radiation on a daily basis might put their own safety and the safety of patients at risk. Recommendations specific to the observed awareness gaps are suggested, including adjusting university program curricula and providing additional training to current employees to increase knowledge and awareness.